Home brew kits. Best place.

[saintmark]

Hi,
I’ve done two brews from the malt cans and the last one spoiled. I’m looking for somewhere that sells a cheap ale kit just so I can get my brewing confidence back before moving on to a more expensive one.
My question is where is the best place to buy from?
Thanks

 

[BeerisGOD]

Wilko. They do plenty own brand ones. If you do want cheap but a gopd standard beer , just buy one can but make a 2.5 gallon batch.
CML do relatively cheaper hops than most as theyre postage is lower, so a 50g pack thrown in will freshen youre beer up and all under 15 quid

 

[saintmark]

Excuse my ignorance but what is CML?

 

[BeerisGOD]

Crossmyloof. Type in cml on this site youl see plenty about them

 

[saintmark]

Crossmyloof. Type in cml on this site youl see plenty about them

Will do thanks.

 

[saintmark]

I’ve never used hops before I thought they were for brewing from scratch. What would I do with them to add to my tin kit?
Thanks

 

[aamcle]

Read this - https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...customise-and-improve-upon-a-basic-kit.69567/ :

aamcle

 

[saintmark]

Cheers pal

 

[terrym]

Hi,
I’ve done two brews from the malt cans and the last one spoiled. I’m looking for somewhere that sells a cheap ale kit just so I can get my brewing confidence back before moving on to a more expensive one.
My question is where is the best place to buy from?
Thanks

If you tell us why you think your last beer spoiled members might be able to help you identify the reason. For example there is a lot of difference between a beer that has gone bad for some reason compared to one that is not yet ready to drink.

 

[saintmark]

If you tell us why you think your last beer spoiled members might be able to help you identify the reason. For example there is a lot of difference between a beer that has gone bad for some reason compared to one that is not yet ready to drink.

I think it was to do with using an old wooden spatula to stir it as isn’t lost my plastic one. I did sterilise it but from what I’ve read afterwards they can be difficult to fully sterilise. Also I kept opening the tub to check it.

 

[terrym]

I think it was to do with using an old wooden spatula to stir it as isn’t lost my plastic one. I did sterilise it but from what I’ve read afterwards they can be difficult to fully sterilise. Also I kept opening the tub to check it.

Stainless steel, glass or food grade plastics are normally the only things homebrewers use, since they can be kept clean and sanitised easily. Supermarket thin bleach is good for sanitising equipment, provided you wash it with clean tap water afterwards. No rinse sanitisers like Starsan are initially expensive to buy but will last a long time. And there are also VWP and Poundshop oxyclean or equivalent. Before you start your next brew I suggest you comprehensively clean and sanitise all your brewing kit. And opening the lid is to be discouraged, but there are occasions when it must be done, so just get on and do it.
If you want a simple kit recipe, try a Wilko Hoppy Copper kit plus either a 454g jar of Holland & Barrett liquid malt or 500g Golden Syrup, brewed to only 15 litres. Leave the beer in the FV for at least 2 weeks to get it to clear before bottling If you want to improve this buy some hops and add either a hop tea or a dry hop. The disadvantage of this is that you will have to have a method of keeping the hops from going forward into your bottles. If you want to give it a try I suggest East Kent Goldings, First Gold, or Styrian Goldings from CML since these would fit the beer style quite well. 35g of hops would be about right for the dry hop. More on dry hopping here
A Newbies Guide to Dry Hopping Your Beer - The HomeBrew Forum
And CML here
Crossmyloof Brewery

 

[saintmark]

Thanks I’ll definately try adding the hops this time as I thought that could only be done for from scratch brewing.
Thanks to everyone you’ve given me some good ideas.